Practical Bishop Endings

PrrACTICAL BTSsHOP ^ENDII\TGS (

GM EE;dmor Nlednis

I

Practical Bishop Endings Grandmaster EdmarMednis

1,990 Coraopolis,Pennsylvania ChessEnterprises

Preface oCopywritelgg0byEdmarMednis.Allrightsreserved.

rsBN0-945470-04-5 Editor:B. G.DudleY CoverDesign:E. F. Witalis,Jr' Typographyand Diagrams:Bob Dudley Proofreading:Frank Cunliffe SecondCorrectedPrinting

As a result of my training and teachingwork I have learnedthat lessexperiencedplayerstend to gre-atryunderrate the Bishop,.It apparentJy seem.s sucha simpl-epiele as it jusi movesback and forth along a diagonal. C 2// ,7 ,l

12...gfs

What White has to start worrying about now is a stalecare is.requiredto mate draw by Black and consider-abii: prevent it. Fbr instance,Black can draw after 13 h5 f4! 14 ilxf4 Bxa6 16 h6 Bd3 16 Kg7 93! L7 h7 BxhT 18 KxhT 92 -Black's King oscillatesbefween 19 BhZ 91:Q 20 Bxgl Kb8. b8 and 68, when Wh-itecan stalemateBlack in severalways but cannotwin. 13 Bf4!! From the above variation we saw that if Black has time to both olav ...Bxa6and sacrificethe Bishopfor White's h-pawnthe g'ameis drawn. The blockading("interference")

L 1-8 LL7

Bradvarevic - R. Maric Yugoslavia 1970After

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text is able to just Preventthat. 13 ....

Now 13...8xa6is too slow:14 h5 93 15h6 92 16 Bh2! (Not 16h7??Bc4+ with a draw) 16...f4l7 h7 andwins.

14 h5 15 Bh2 16 h6

g2 f4 Bd3

OtherwiseL7 h7 wins immediatelY. 17 axb7+! 18 Bg1

Chapter6: positionalAdvantages

g3

As before for samecolor Bishops,a positionaladvantqge may be "better"pawns,Bishop,Kin! - br a combination of these. Section1: Better Bishop

Theconceptof the betterBishopis easvto understand: it.is the 9rffr.gp whichcansuccessfully attackenemypawns. Diagram66 illustrates thisperfectly.

KxbT Black resigns

White will win Black'sBishopwith 19 Kg7 and 20 h7. Then White's King can first chooseto-capjureBlack'spaw{tl or head immediatElyfor the Queenside.There the King will help the b-pawnqueen. ThroughoutBlack'sKilg has the worst of both worlds: he is tied ddwn to stop the b--pawnyet cannot hope for a stalemate.

.

Diagram66

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ar i

9

t

Blackon move

'7,7>.ry t

t

The pawn_ "active",yet- Blag!formation is symmetrical,White's King is on move can i:aptureall of White'spawns as foflows: 1...8!1,.2...8f2,3...8xg3,4...8fr4,5...893,6...Sxh+truly the betterBishop! Section2: Better Pawns Sincewe alreadylearnedin Chapter4 that a one pawn a.dvantage in normal positionsis insufficientto win, it is clear lhat there must be somethingquite specialabouthavingthe superiorpqwn formationto bE aUleto win startingwith dqual material. The kind of positionthat illustratesthis is shownin Diagram 67, B. Kurajica - A. Karpov, Skopje 1976,after White's33rd move. Black hasa passeda-pawn,yet it is securelyblockadedby White's Bishop. Moreover,White's doubled- d3pawn per ?or m sa v al ua6l edefens i v efunc ti on: i t

t-19

L20

7

preventsBlack'sKing from penetratinginto the Queensidevia b5 and c4 and in the centervia d5 and c4. Thereforeto win Black will haveto be able to break throughon the Kingside. Can this be done?

% ' " r u%, " r e Diagram 67

%t% lf, 7,&A%%t % 7,&A% %

t % ll r u%%' % %t%t% % % #,tzfi

33 ....

B. Kurajica - A. Karpov Skopje1976 After White's 33rd move

h4!

GM Karpov realizesvery well where the battlefield will be. Therefore,he activatei the h-pawnand, also quite importantly,temptsWhite to challengeit. 34 g3? Hindsight tells us that at least in the practicalsense this is the losingmove. (Seethe discussions after White's37th and 44th movesfor the "theoretical"side.) The text seriously weakens the Kingside pawn formation and leaves White without a satisfactoryway of preventingBlack'seventual...g4 pawn !1eak, This break will loosenup the light squaresand allow Black'sKing to infiltrate. Karpov'sexploitationof this is flawlessand tecfinicallyclear. But how could we have used/oresightto select the proper defensiveset-up? Black'spawn break on the Kingside must obviouslybe basedon an eventual...g4;thereforethe correct pawn formation for White should start with 34 h3!. Black could then be expectedto place 'Thushis King on h5, the fpawn on f5, the g-pawnon g5. prepar-edBlack will play ...g4. At this momentWhite must be able to respondwith

T2I

Black'sKingof potentialinfiltrationsquares. [1,!l,9.pr_iying wnr.r.e's posrtrondoesremainpassive, but I havenot bednable way that Black can decisively break into ?ny I9,.gls9ouer. wh,rte'sposi.tigrl. In_certain positionsBlackcansacrificehis resources to Trsnop'Dutwnrtealwayshasenoughdefensive oraw. 34 ....

Kf7!

+ ? Ieadsto a deaddraw,as , - pnly;o] -lnstead34...hxg3 does 34...951. since Bra].k in eithercaseracksbreakll €xh4 rnrougnposstbt ttttes. 35 Ke3 and,g.enerlfso in the furure,worseis 35 gxh4 L __-. Hgl. because Black'sKingwillfyrecaptur.e the pawnandbe actively for imminentpenetration. p-t_qqe{ (yet seethe commentaftei White's37thmove!) 35 .... 36 Kf4 37 Ke3?

f5 Kg6

Apparentlyworth little criticismsinceBlack can force this r etr eat with ...B a2and ...Bb1. H ow ev er ,Kar D ovhas pointedout that at exactlythis momentthe paradoxic al 37 #4!? ryay-befully playable. The justificati